Obamacare premiums set to explode again next year; Democrats who passed it now blame Republicans

Americans who have to purchase their own insurance have no doubt noticed that, since about 2012 or 2013, premiums and out-of-pocket deductibles have soared. Now, health insurers are set to dramatically increase premiums once again in 2019, meaning consumers will have seen their rates triple in a span of six years.

Early in his first year, President Donald J. Trump thought he’d have a quick win on a campaign pledge to roll back Obamacare and replace it with free-market solutions aimed at reducing rates while increasing coverage for more Americans and allowing them to better tailor plans to their individual needs.

But he learned a hard Washington lesson: Campaign pledges don’t mean the same thing in the nation’s capital that they mean on the campaign trail. Trump, of course, has been the exception to that rule, having kept several promises already. But he couldn’t get enough of the Republican majority — even those who swore to constituents just a few months earlier they’d be all-in for repeal — to go along with him.

After two failed attempts at repealing even portions of Obamacare, Trump moved onto other issues. He did finally get a ‘win’ on Obamacare when he and the GOP majority passed major tax reform that contained a provision that repealed O-care’s individual mandate, which forced everyone to purchase health insurance or pay a fine to the IRS.

That alone, however, hasn’t been enough to beat back price increases. And now Trump faces additional pushback on repeal, from many of the same Democrats who gave the country Obamacare in the first place (without a single Republican vote).

What’s more, as the country heads into the 2018 election cycle and beyond, Democrats are planning what can only be called a disinformation campaign regarding Obamacare and the GOP tax cuts.

America has a health insurance problem because politicians would rather lie about it than solve it. Obamacare regulations caused premiums for people buying their own insurance to more than double between 2013 and 2017, then soar even higher in 2018. With huge hikes predicted again in 2019, Obamacare will have caused premiums to triple in six years. Ouch. But instead of telling the truth about why this is happening, politicians are dishing out lies.

Specifically, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has already announced what his party will say about the coming rate hikes.

“We Democrats are going to be relentless in making sure the American people exactly understand who is to blame for the rates” — President Trump and Republicans.

“Don’t buy this lie,” the American Spectator’s Betsy McCaughey writes.

According to McKinsey management consultants, the biggest problem as it pertains to perpetual rate hikes is the law’s rule forcing people who are healthy to pay the same premium rates as sick people. Prior to the law’s passage, consumers could shop for plans that fit their needs based on current levels of health; sicker people paid more because they cost more while healthy people paid less because they cost the insurer less. It’s not that way anymore; now everyone pays for the sick.

“Five percent of the population consumes almost 50 percent of healthcare but under Obamacare,” writes McCaughey, “everyone pays the same premium.”

And despite ever-rising premiums, the health insurance product is of much lower quality. Some people’s deductibles, for instance, are so high they never experience a covered health care cost for an entire year.

Trump’s making regulatory changes to the extent that a president can to ease the burden on consumers. But the law remains, and as such, so do the systemic problems which contribute to higher monthly premiums.

Meanwhile, she notes, lawmakers like Schumer — who get “sweetheart” medical coverage for life — would rather play a blame game than fix a law they passed that is harming consumers.